Last May I wrote about the very interesting work of a UCD grad student named Kirsten Skogerson. This week she and Dr. Roger Boulton released a spreadsheet with their predictive model baked in. In essence the model promises to allow rapid analysis of phenolics such as tannins and anthocyanins (red and purple pigments responsible for color in red wine) without having to go through some of the more difficult assays required to obtain such measurements.
The model itself is still in it’s early stages yet, but as I wrote back in May:
Having this information helps a winemaker know, for example, when to press down their wine, and can give a good indication of overall quality by comparison to samples of former vintages of known quality…
The bottom line for a winemaker is that with this method he could begin to compile a database of his wine profiles via UV-Vis spectroscopy, use a modified version of Skogerson’s system to create a predictive model based on past vintages, and ultimately use the information to help aid in winemaking decisions. The results should be more consistent and higher quality wine.
If you are interested in winemaking and have access to a spectrophotometer (wait! where are you all going?), this is a pretty cool tool. You can read more on Dr. Boulton’s website where you can download Skogerson’s powerpoint slides from the presentation last May, as well as download the spreadsheet.
